Falling Skies
by Scathach24
Summary: MAXIMUM RIDE AU: Naruto see's her little flock as her family. They've been together for so long and have lived through so much together. They're the reasons she's stayed out of the dreaded labs of 'The School' for as long as she has. So what happens when the seven of them end up living with a perverted author and his two agoraphobic students? More info inside. T 'cause I'm paranoid
1. Chapter 1

**I wouldn't really call this a cross-over, since none of the Maximum Ride characters will be making an appearance. It's more of a birdkid AU. **

**The only other things aside from bird kids that will be the same as in Maximum Ride will be Erasers, Itex, and Whitecoats.**

**The flock is as follows (age and type of bird included)**

**Obito - 23 - Eurasian Collared dove**

**Kakashi - 22 - Wondering Albatross**

**Itachi - 17 - Raven**

**Sasuke - 14 - Raven**

**Karin - 13 - Red Lory**

**Naruto - 13 - Blue jay**

**Gaara - 13 - Red Tailed Hawk**

**Pairings will be: Fem!Naruto x Itachi, Karin x Suigetsu, Gaara x fem!Lee, Jiraiya x Tsunade (the pairings may change)**

**I don't own Naruto or Maximum Ride. This is just for fun :D**

* * *

"We come bearing food!" a blonde girl chirped happily. She was probably around thirteen or so with long blond hair that perpetually looked like she rolled out of bed. Her name was Naruto and she's a mutant, a bird kid to be the moment she was holding a couple of plastic bags in the crook of her arms.

"Finally!" a red haired girl, the only other girl, exclaimed walking over and relieving Naruto of her burden. "We're starving."

A raven haired boy by the name of Sasuke rubbed the back of his head and sighed "We got held back, Karin"

"Did something happen that we should be aware of?" Itachi asked. They're used to him silently slinking out of the shadows. He's stealthy as hell.

"Oh nothing other then a few punks" Naruto said with a shrug. "We handled it - and no the cops were not involved, 'ttebayo"

"...for once" a scratchy voice murmured softly from the other end of the room.

The boys name was Gaara, he had short messy red hair and dark rings under his eyes, giving him an almost raccoon like appearance. He and Naruto were really close and she showed it in little moments such as these-

"Oh shove it, Red" She growled, punching him in the shoulder. She looked around "Where's Kakashi and Obito?"

Or the mother hens, as Naruto lovingly referred to them. They're the oldest ones there at twenty two years each. They sort of adopted the other kids, while they traveled around.

First they took in Sasuke, Itachi, and Karin after they busted up their lab. Then later they found Naruto and Gaara, wondering about on their own. They both managed to escape their lab when they were twelve, though when asked Gaara will stare at his feet and Naruto looks like she may cry.

And so they never ask.

Naruto shed her orange jacket and ruffled her large blue and black wings. They suspected that her DNA was grafted with that of a blue jay.

Sasuke was mixed with a raven, the large perfectly black wings were a dead give away. He and Itachi, who were the only blood siblings, shared this.

It wasn't a question that Karin was a parrot of some kind - even her hair was a vivid scarlet.

Gaara was...-well they didn't really know. His wings were dark brown and russet, with white on the underside. Maybe some kind of hawk?

"Yo" comes the lazy voice of Kakashi. He's tall with light gray hair and wings. He's got a scar through his left eye- left over from his own escape, and he's always covered the lower half of his face with either a big turtleneck or one of those blue hospital masks.,

He sets a hand on Naruto's head for a moment before walking off to make dinner. Obito was discarding his black trench coat and tossing it onto a chair. He then proceeded to flop on the floor and fall asleep his large gray and white wings tucked around his body like a blanket.

Karin looked up at Kakashi. "Is he okay?"

"Maa, he's just tired." Kakashi said dismissively. "I did tell him not to fly so high up."

"Bite me, 'Kashi" Obito murmured waking up just enough to say that, before going back to sleep.

"Pass" he said cheerfully.

"We need to move again soon" Karin said quietly. "There are Erasers in the area. I'm not sure where but close enough for me to feel them."

This was one of Karin's 'talents'. She could sense people, especially familiar people and dangerous people. She couldn't really explain it very well other then 'feeling' their presence. They learned to trust it seeing as she was always correct.

The 'Erasers' were fellow mutants. But these were trained to capture and/or kill other mutants such as their flock. They were ruthless, sadistic, strong, and formidable. Each was half wolf half man and some even had wings grafted onto their back.

Very formidable.

Kakashi nodded and pushed the chicken around with his spatula. "We'll leave in the morning."

"That seems like a good idea." Gaara murmured softly, tucking his long legs under him and continuing to read.

"Damn it!" Naruto yelled suddenly, startling everyone. "Why the hell do we have to keep running?! Why is it so hard!"

"Naruto" Itachi said quietly, not even looking up from his tea. "It's not safe for us. If we get found we'll end up in the lab again. It's not our fault, it's just how it is"

"I-I know" she muttered. "I just-" She turned and walked off toward the bathroom, grabbing her faded orange backpack. "I'm taking a bath."

"She just needs to cool off." Gaara informed.

"Fair enough" Kakashi shrugged. He began to drop chicken on plates until the pan was empty. "Who's hungry?"

* * *

**And that's the intro. **

**more to come :D**


	2. Chapter 2

"What's our money situation looking like, Itachi?" Obito asked in the morning.

Naruto, Karin, Sasuke, and Kakashi were still asleep. They would need to wake up soon.

"We'll need to gather funds shortly." Itachi informed him. "Last nights dinner wiped us out"

"I was afraid of that." Obito murmured.

Gaara moved careful not to jostle Naruto too much. They usually slept in close proximity to each other. Naruto had at this point snuggled up next to him and had her head buried in his stomach.

Gaara hardly slept, but didn't have the heart to make her move. Instead he sat quietly with a newspaper or a book, like a nice, supportive, human pillow. The first and last time they asked him about this he gave them a stony look and said one word "_Nightmares_"

He pushed a newspaper to Obito. "There's going to be a County Fair today, not far from here. It would be a perfect place to pick pocket, seeing as most people pay in cash"

"That sounds excellent" Obito said with an approving nod. "Naruto is going to be excited."

"'bout what, 'ttebayo?" she muttered drowsily pulling her head off of Gaara's abdomen. Her hair was all over the place, sticking up, and shrouding her face in blond.

"We're going to a fair, kiddo" Obito said with a grin, ruffling her hair.

That woke her up.

Naruto dove at Obito, tackling him in a hug. "Yes! Thankyouthankyouthankyou, 'ttebayo!"

Itachi chuckled and gently pried her off of Obito. "Just remember that our main objective is to get money."

"Easy enough" Naruto said flapping her hand dismissively. "I just want cotton candy. Like a lot of it."

"Last thing you need is sugar." Gaara said going back to his book.

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled smacking him with a pillow. "I will have my cotton candy!"

"Go the fuck to sleep!" Sasuke yelled throwing a shoe across the room and hitting Naruto in the back of the head.

"Language, little brother" Itachi chided playfully, knowing full well how irritable Sasuke got in the morning. He then fluidly ducked as the other shoe sailed toward him.

"Itachiiii" Naruto whined nursing her sore head. "Your brother's mean!"

Itachi patted her head twice, avoiding the growing bump. "There, there Naruto"

"Maa, you needed to get up anyway, Sasuke." Kakashi said with a stretch. He pulled on a mask and tucked the strings over his ears. He began to gently shake Karin and Sasuke, before smiling and cheerfully stating "Don't make me get a hose~"

Twin groans could be heard from the nest of blankets.

They knew he would do it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so stuff goes down in this chapter.**

* * *

"What have we got so far" Obito asked looking over the kids in front of him. Kakashi was...somewhere.

Itachi dug around his pockets before producing a couple of wallets. Each of the others followed suit. Karin and Sasuke sifted through the wallets until paper money had been shoved into a green frog wallet and cards and empty wallets formed a heap.

"Good work, guys." Obito said ruffling Sasuke's hair affectionately. The younger raven glared in response. Obito pulled out a few ten dollar bills and handed them off to each kid. "Go enjoy the fair. Meet me on the other side of the gates behind the Ferris Wheel when your done, kay?"

"Your the best!" Naruto squealed, hugging the crap out of him. She grabbed Gaara and Karin's arms and dragged them off, chattering happily about how much cotton candy she was going to eat.

Itachi smiled faintly at that. He knew that this kid could shatter a grown mans skull with a well placed kick - he'd seen it - but she could still be so sweet and childlike. It made him feel better about life in general.

* * *

_**.:.:.:.:::*later*:::.:.:.:.**_

* * *

"Sooo good~!" Naruto sang out popping little tufts of cotton candy into her mouth. She looked at Gaara and a grin spread over her face. "Remember the time Minato brought us cup ramen? This is almost as good"

Gaara smiled faintly at that. Minato had been a Whitecoat in their branch of the school. He, unlike so many others, had been nice to the two of them. Gaara remembered his sunshiny hair and the way he'd sometimes pick Naruto and Gaara up and set them on his lap when they were little. He'd read to them and sometimes sneak them snacks.

But when they were around eleven he simply vanished. It broke their hearts, though Gaara didn't show it nearly as much as Naruto had.

"Here." Itachi said falling in step next to her and handing her a little orange frog about the size of her hand. "Travel friendly, and it might help with the nightmares."

"Woah" Naruto said with a smile. "Thanks 'Tachi"

"Your very welcome" Itachi said with a small smile.

"We should probably meet up with Obito, now" Gaara shrugged.

When they ended up behind the Ferris Wheel they found Kakashi standing next to Obito and reading one of his beloved erotic novels.

"Why must you read porn in public?" Itachi asked with a small exasperated sigh.

Kakashi just kept reading.

"I think we should fly north" Sasuke suggested. "It'll be summer soon and Alaska isn't known for it dense population."

Kakashi nodded and shut his book with a snap. "Well then, shall we?"

Obito stretched and rotated his shoulders. "If we go now we can get a half hour of air time before it gets too dark to see."

Karin suddenly went stiff as a board, her eyes the size of dinner plates. "Shit..."

"Fun day, un?" a silky smooth voice purred from a few feet behind them.

Several hulky, ominous shapes loomed around them, slinking out of the shadows. All seven were completely surrounded.

"Autumn leaves in the hurricane!" Obito shouted.

The Erasers looked at him as if he was insane. Fair enough. This was actually a code they set up that ment fly and scatter. Each of them spread their wings and shot into the air with alarming speed.

They would keep within a twenty five mile radius and then Karin would find them after the Erasers were gone.

Naruto, Itachi, and Gaara were flying East, toward a hill covered in dense redwood. They had each split up slightly, Naruto going straight, Gaara left, and Itachi right. Naruto's large graceful wings beat in perfect rhythm as she pushed herself to go faster. Two Erasers were tailing her, one with long blond hair and a scope and the other with shorter red hair and half lidded brown eyes.

"You can't run forever, freak!" The red head shouted.

Naruto turned her head back, her wild blond hair tousled by the wind. "I'm not running, idiot. I'm flying!"

_'Not for long...'_ the blond thought pulling something off his torso. Suddenly there was a loud sound.

Naruto shrieked as she felt something make contact with her left shoulder. Then it started to bleed and she began to rapidly lose altitude.

"NARUTO!" she could hear Itachi's voice as she started to black out.

* * *

**_.::*ten minutes later*::._**

* * *

Jiraiya Hikigaeru walked his way through the woods outside his house, his old hunting rifle in one hand and a chunky flashlight in the other. He was fully ready to scare the piss out of some trespassers.

He'd heard a loud bang and some shrieking coming from the hills near his farm. Nagato was only just able to move again, and there wasn't anyway in hell Konan was going out of his sight, so Jiraiya went out there. He didn't mind going to check it out. His writers block was being especially heinous anyway.

He swept the yellowish beam of light over the landscape, finding nothing incriminating. Then he saw them.

Large, blue and black feathers. Some of them looked as though they were covered in blood. Jiraiya kept looking for the source until he found it.

It was a girl lying facedown in the dirt and dead leaves. But this kid had wings, jutting out of her back, coming out of slits in her orange and blue t-shirt. Jiraiya couldn't help but notice that one of her wings looked twisted, broken probably. There was blood too, all over her left side, matting her hair, and making a small muddy puddle under her. That explains the noises...kind of.

Jiraiya ran up and moved her as gently as he could manage. She let out a soft groan and her eyes twitched slightly, but she didn't move.

He carefully hefted her onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry and ran toward his home. Jiraiya might have been over fifty, but he was still strong enough to do this much. He was actually a little surprised by how light she was.

"Konan! Nagato!" he shouted when he was close enough.

He began to privately thank whoever the hell was up there, that his two students were vets and lived with him.

* * *

Konan pulled on plastic gloves. Her tawny eyes regarded the girl on her side in front of her. "The left wing is broken and it looks like she's been shot on the shoulder of the same side"

Jiraiya was amazed at how calm his former student was. I mean he just ran into the house with a half dead bird child on his back for craps sake.

"Jiraiya-sensei, could you get some pain killers and an IV stand? Maybe an oxygen mask?" Nagato asked wheeling himself closer to the exam table. Jiraiya nodded and ran off.

Then cerulean eyes shot open and the girl on the table shrieked loudly, trying to get up. Of coarse the hole in her shoulder and the grotesquely broken wing kept her from moving around too much. She screamed some more with tears rolling down her face and tried to get off the table.

"Easy kid" Nagato tried to sooth, attempting to get her to lie still. "We're not going to hurt you, but you nee- SON OF A BITCH"

Naruto hand clamped her teeth down on Nagato's wrist as hard as she could when he'd put his hand too close to her face. Nagato was trying to move it, but she wasn't budging.

"Konan, get the zolazepam!" Nagato yelled.

The girl let go and began to shake her head furiously. "No! I'll be good! I promise! Don't knock me out, 'ttebayo!"

How did she know zolazepam was a seditive? Konan and Nagato shared a quick look '_the hells with this kid?_'

Konan spoke first. "We're not going to hurt you intentionally, but you've been shot and one of your wings is broken pretty badly. You need to be still and calm so we can fix you, alright?"

"W-where is this?" the girl asked, more tears falling out of her frightened blue eyes. "Is this a lab? Are you scientists?"

"No." Nagato murmured, nursing his bleeding arm. "This is part of our veterinary clinic. Technically your in our home. Our sensei found you passed out in the forest._** Now. Just. Hold. Still**_"

He ground out the last words darkly enough for Naruto to shrink down a little.

"She's awake?" Jiraiya asked walking into the room, dragging an IV stand behind him and holding an oxygen tank in the crook of his arm. He set the things down and walked toward her. "What's your name, kid?"

"Naruto." she said quietly. She winced and clutched her shoulder.

Konan carefully moved her hand and examined the offending shoulder. "well the bullet didn't break and missed major veins, so it could be a lot worse. The wing needs immediate attention if your ever going to fly again, however"

"How will you do that, exactly?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

Nagato deadpanned "They seem to be structured the same as most birds, but larger. We'll just have to set it and secure it in place on her back. Simple enough."

Nagato looked at her again. "To be frank, it'll hurt like a bitch. Sure you don't want to get sedated?"

"Promise that you wont lock me up if you do?" she asked dubiously.

"Obviously" Konan said with a shrug. "Right now our main objective is getting you patched up"

Naruto looked like she was thinking it over. Then she looked at Konan. "okay..."

* * *

** ...:::*Meanwhile*:::...**

* * *

Itachi finished telling the rest of the flock what happened.

"You-you BASTARD!" Gaara shouted launching himself at Itachi. He used his full weight to pin Itachi to the ground and locked his hands around his throat. "Why the hell didn't you go after her?!"

"Enough Gaara!" Obito snapped pulling Gaara off of him. "I know your upset, but turning on each other isn't going to do Naruto any good!"

"She's close, but she's..." Karin searched her mind for the right word "...faint"

Gaara's eyes flashed dangerously. "What do you mean 'faint'?"

"Just that" Karin said, adjusting her glasses. "Normally when I sense her she's really, really vibrant like a neon orange, but now it's like someone poured white paint all over it."

"If she's-" Gaara cut himself off and took a couple of breaths. "I swear to god if she's dead I'll castrate you with acid, slice your throat, and feed your body to stray dogs."

After Gaara stomped off, Kakashi made a mental note to stick between the two of them. He knew that to Gaara Naruto might as well be a younger sister. Therefore he would carry out the threat to the best of his ability.

* * *

**So I fabricated Jiraiya's last name. Hikigaeru means Toad. Original, right?**


End file.
